3 Lessons Learned from Writing my First Romantic Suspense Series

Thanks so much to Kendra for inviting me to hang out over here today! I’m thrilled to be celebrating the release of my first romantic suspense novel on the 26th. Hard As It Gets is the first in the Hard Ink series which is based around the surviving members of an Army Special Forces team disgraced when they were discharged from the Army under suspicious circumstances and follows their efforts to recover their stolen honor.

When I first conceived of the Hard Ink series, I was thinking it was contemporary romance. Because I write contemporary romance. Not romantic suspense. LOL But it didn’t take long to realize that my contemporary story had morphed into something a bit different, a bit more. Now, I’ve written the first two in what will be at least a four-book series. So, today, I thought I’d share my newbie lessons learned from writing my first romantic suspense series.

The importance of plotting. I say this as a pantser. I do not like to plot. I’ll even go as far as to say that I feel it steals some of my mojo. Well, at least, normally. But I’ve found that I can’t write romantic suspense without at least some plotting. With romantic suspense, you have two main plots – the romance and the suspense, and interweaving them within an individual book and across a series is too complicated to wing, at least for me! And for the suspense plot itself, figuring out just when to drop the suspenseful breadcrumbs in a book and which elements of an overarching suspense plot to address and resolve in each book in a series takes more pre-planning than I’m used to.

The importance of raising the stakes. Having written the first two books in my series and started plotting a follow-on novella and the third full-length novel, I feel like you need to constantly raise the stakes, within the individual books and between one book and the next. In a series like mine where the suspense plot unravels across several books, the mountain needs to seem higher to climb with each new story to continue to build conflict and tension, and to offer something new to the reader in each story. That’s not as easy as it sounds, but plotting out the stakes helps.

The challenge of balancing the romance and suspense. In contemporary romance, your heroine can think about the hero’s sexy shoulders all day long, and your couple can pretty much get it on any old time. And if they want to spend the day lounging around in bed together, they totally can. Now, throw in life-and-death threats and unseen dangers around every corner and the sexy times become a bit harder to weave in. For example, if your brother’s possibly being killed by big bad guys, are you really thinking about the hero’s shoulders? LOL Well, yes, you can, but it takes a bit more finesse. And, if you know a bomb (literal or figurative) might go off at any minute, are your characters really going to stop to have sex? You get the point. At a minimum, the characters need to think about why it might be okay—even good—to engage in a little diversion in the middle of crisis. But it’s a challenge to balance these elements for sure.

I hadn’t realized the skill and finesse involved in writing romantic suspense until I tackled one for the first time. I found it incredibly exciting and rewarding by the end, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t look at my best friend and writing partner across our table at Panera and say, “I’m never writing another romantic suspense again.” LOL (Her responses amounted to, “Uh huh.”) So I have tons of respect for folks like the ladies here at Murder She Writes who do it again and again and make it look so effortless!

If you write romantic suspense, what other lessons would you offer? And can you suggest a favorite RS novel you enjoyed?

Flash Giveaway: Two commenters (include your email address) will win a signed ARC of Hard As It Gets. Content ends at noon EST on Saturday 11/23! Open to international. Good luck!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

About Hard As It Gets:

Five dishonored soldiers.

Former Special Forces.

One last mission.

These are the men of Hard Ink.

Tall, dark, and lethal…

Trouble just walked into Nicholas Rixey’s tattoo parlor. Becca Merritt is warm, sexy, wholesome–pure temptation to a very jaded Nick. He’s left his military life behind to become co-owner of Hard Ink Tattoo, but Becca is his ex-commander’s daughter. Loyalty won’t let him turn her away. Lust has plenty to do with it too.

With her brother presumed kidnapped, Becca needs Nick. She just wasn’t expecting to want him so much. As their investigation turns into all-out war with an organized crime ring, only Nick can protect her. And only Becca can heal the scars no one else sees.

Desire is the easy part. Love is as hard as it gets. Good thing Nick is always up for a challenge…

Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

Kendra Elliot is the best-selling author of the romantic suspense novels HIDDEN, CHILLED, and BURIED. ALONE coming January 2014. She lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest, but dreams of living at the beach on Kauai.

I really enjoy your Anemoi novels and am looking into getting into your RS series (and not just to ogle those covers). I don’t have one favorite RS book, but I enjoy many RS series including those by Tara Janzen, Suzanne Brockmann, Cherry Adair and Maya Banks.

To me one of the challenges of writing RS is pacing. It’s so important to keep the story moving. I use a storyboard to help me map out the scenes, and that makes it easier to see where I have too many slow scenes in a row and need to pick up the pace.

Good morning, Laura. Welcome. I LOVE romantic suspense–that’s all I read for years as a youngster. Your series sounds wonderful–love the premise. From your blog it sounds like you’ve got your pantsing v. plotting balance. I too find that although I love to wing it and let the story build organically, the mystery/suspense elements mess that up. They definitely need to be planned, or, at least the introduction of the clues and the ratcheting of the suspense needs to be more well thought out in advance. That is the hardest and least interesting part of the story for me as a writer–as a reader I gobble it up. Great luck with your new series!

Thanks Cindy! Yes, those are dirty words to me, too. In fact, my critique partner Christi Barth who is a HUGE plotter and always on me about it just gave me a “I told ya so” for admitting its importance when she read this post LOL

I have read & have all your books Laura Kaye 😀 You are indeed one my favorite authors. You always Steam my Kindle up…lol After what you have written in your Contemporary & Paranormal books I cant wait to get my hands on this new series. Its very exciting. I know this series will keep me on the edge of my seat & will be wonderful. Hope you have a successful Book Release & go straight to NYT best seller 😀
Big Hugs
Missie Jones
missie25524 (at) netzero.com

I love romantic suspense precisely because there is that extra level to the plot. Don’t get me wrong; I love contemporary romance, too, but because I can dream about my own husband’s shoulders all day long, the added thrill of danger in a romantic suspense creates more of an escape for me. 🙂

I’m awake! Glad to have you with us, Laura! My only tips are read lots of romantic suspense and make notes on what you love. I do a bit of plotting. I usually don’t start until I know the first third of the story and the end is usually a pretty firm idea. I try to leave the middle flexible for those great ideas that slap me in the face as I’m writing.

Hi Laura – No need to include me in the drawing. I am so glad this is categorized as Romantic Suspense. I had such a tough time calling it contemporary to people I talked about it with. I loved it. It was the perfect blend of romance and suspense to me! I love to read lots of romantic suspense. My most recent “new” one to me is a Suzanne Brockmann book I requested from NetGalley. Everyone tells me to try hers so I can’t wait. Thanks and best of luck with Hard As It Gets!

Great question, Denny! One thing that happens is that as the couple’s emotions for one another become more intense in the second half of the book, the danger takes on a more personal cast, so you can interweave the romance and the suspense in an even more emotional way. For example, you can use the suspense plot and dangerous threats to throw the hero and heroine together so you have more opportunity for sexual tension between them. You can also use the danger directed toward the heroine, especially a close brush with danger, to trigger emotional realizations and the hero’s protective instincts. Lots of fun things can result! 😉

Absolutely dead on with the advice, Laura! And man, you definitely pushed my buttons with this series. I have to read it now. LOL

My advice would be to make sure *you* have depth of character. The characters need to be real, not caricatures. Villains need to believe they are the hero. Heroes need to have flaws. Heroines need to be strong and vulnerable, but realistically so. Nothing gets me to wallbang a book faster than a capable heroine suddenly going TSTL without the author laying the groundwork and providing real justification for her idiocy. 😆

Great advice, Silver! It always come down to characters for me as a reader – no matter the plot, I have to love and believe in them! I love your point about the villains being believable and having depth. Thanks so much!

I love romantic suspense. Among my favorites are Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin, Debra Webb, JD Robb, Cindy Gerard (I could go on for pages and pages) but I’m always looking for new talent. I’m retired Navy and I really enjoy books with military or former military heros and \ or heroines. Just preordered Hard as it Gets for my Nook. Looking forward to it.

Laura, nice surprise to see you here. I love your books and these look uber-hot! Can’t wait to read them. My newest favorite romantic suspense author is Mary Burton. She does an excellent job of weaving romance and suspense together and she doesn’t shy away from very scary bad guys.

I am not a writer, just an addicted reader! One of my favorite romantic suspense series is Marie Force’s Fatal series. I am usually drawn to just romance, but I do like the occasional romance with that bit of suspense and mystery added into it.
Thanks for the chance!

I find plotting makes it easier when I am stuck or my characters decide to go off on a tangent then I have to go back over the plot to get them back on track.
Thanks so much for the giveaway! jasdarts at hotmail dot com

I haven’t read your books, but I will definitely be going to look them up. I like the premise of your new series. I’m working on a series now, and I’m finding that I am a story first/characters second kind of writer. Struggling to get the personalities to open up on the page. I find myself trying to preserve their dignity and allow them to mask their emotions because, well, they’re friends and I don’t want to open them up to ridicule or hurt. Isn’t that silly? I also think your advice is right on. Need to do some more plotting. Like the storyboard idea too. Thanks!

Isn’t it interesting to learn other writers’ processes? I’m a character first/story second kind of writer! We would make a good team! LOL It’s not silly at all, because everything about our stories is very lively in our mind! Thanks for the comment!

Can’t wait to read the new book & would love to win a copy. My fave books of yours are The Hero series & Hearts in Darkness. I like romantic suspense & enjoy Karen Rose, Laura Griffin, Suzanne Brockmann, & Maya Banks.I hope the new series is a huge hit! Plus then maybe you’ll have to come to LA for a visit! 😉 plus341@comcast.net

This sounds like a fantastic series. Looking forward to reading them as well as your paranormal books (read a hawt excerpt from your newsletter recently). So many books, so little time! Thrilled to have found you Laura!

Romantic suspense is one of my favorite genre, simply because it blend action, suspense and also romance :). I want more thrill and also mystery in romantic suspense I read, some aspect that make me read the book in one sitting. My favorite RS are Linda Howard’s RS books and I-Team series by Pamela Clare. Thanks for make this international!

Laura, another important tip to RS: you can’t give away too much too soon, you must spread out those “breadcrumbs!” ; ) Hard Ink sounds fab! Good luck with the series. Favorites, that’s tough b/c I have so many. So I’ll mention two I’ve only recently discovered: Melissa Cutler (Tempted into Danger) and Lena Diaz (He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not).

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.